I don’t know if it’s the finally melting snow or the warmer temperatures but I am feeling a huge sense of renewal. The crocus, iris and tulips are beginning to poke through the winter mulch and I feel the breath of fresh air that spring brings right down into my soul. I have spent the majority of winter assessing my life, my goals, my hopes and my dreams only to come up feeling lacking. I have realized that I can keep coming up with excuses or I can come up with action. I have spent far too long on planning and plotting, on waiting for this or that to happen. It’s time to throw open the windows of my life and breathe in the fresh air, soak up the sunshine and throw out the negative and inaction.
I don’t normally share my feelings, especially in such a public forum, but my hope is that by doing so I can help someone else who feels the same way. I tend to fall in to that gloomy trap of depression and I have decided I am going to fight back every step of the way. Open the curtains, the windows if it’s warm enough, turn on some good music and look for all the little things that bring a smile to your face and make that effort to smile more. Take a really deep breath and exhale slowly. Say a prayer, talk to God or meditate. Hang a wind chime and a birdfeeder, they open your ears to the sounds of nature. Put up a birdhouse, fill a vase with flowers. Fill a box or bag with things to donate, bake something. Paint your nails, put on earrings. Do you have a hobby that you’ve put away but miss terribly? Get it back out! It’s hard to dwell on the bad when looking for the good. I know how hard it can be but take a few minutes a day for yourself. All of these ideas are just little, easy things to do but to someone with the blues they can seem huge. Try one or two, then try one or two more and soon you will feel so much better. If you have some helpful tips, please share them in the comments section!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~ Romans 15:13 (ESV)
I find doing community service is uplifting. Helping others, helps keep the blues away. Also the folks that are involved in comunity service are usually positive happy people and are uplifting to be around. Find what makes you happy and keep doing it. 😉 Happiness is work.
So true!